Information-sharing service for seniors around the Queen Elizabeth Park.

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When visiting
Newly formed parents
Those with lack of sleep
And germinating sleep apnoea
Be on time.
Stay for thirty
And never you frown at JK on tv
Which is background noise
A reminder to those in the nappy feed round
That there was life before
And will once more come around
Maybe.
Fret not at a mother in sunglasses at home
And offer nothing like advice
To a lioness in her pride
And ready to roar
For the nfp use Apps
When not Facebooking their fears.
Take along something practical
But not Comfort
Or nappy sacs
Tea bags or wipes
But Chanel hand cream
Sleep goggles
Or a Batman pocket tin opener
For a man.
Do not make mention of nappies piled at the door.
Don’t try to organise the floor.
You may not see the order of others
Rest assured the kitchen is brimming over
With ideas of nutrition
And the sterilising kit is there for good reason.
Take no notice when they say stay awhile
Their mothers taught them manners
As they crack open a smile
Which looks practised but marred.
Their energy is already rationed in spurts
They have become new members of a thrusting elite
Of those who juggle babies yoga and work.
You came in from a world judging generation,
guardians of what you all did before.
Their ground is solid as they plant their feet
In a place where the individual is met no more
Because the nfp are unique to themselves
Accepting fighting routine lack of sleep
Dipped in horizons and less spiked in thought
Eyes on each other and the precious they brought
Into a world they are comfortable in
Their home.

My grandmother told me “Hell is on Earth, right here. I have seen the edited hell on Sky News coming out of Congo and South Sudan and Europe. Hell it is.
I was in eastern Nigeria just post- Biafra and heard it from men’s mouths how their “girls are all spoilt and loose now. They have seen too much” meaning that rape had taken place everywhere. There was no sympathy for the women at all. They had been sullied . And today is the same attitude not just in that place : that the girls and not the perpetrators should be ashamed and remain quiet.